Well, today was supposed to be my son's last day with his 1:1 aide. The
school had initially refused giving him an aide for the transition and after
I called the district and sent several letters the aide magically appeared on
the first day. She told me that she would be there until today. Well
yesterday I asked some questions and figured out that none of the
teachers are familiar with the IEP and none of the accommodations in the
classroom are in place (visual schedule, quiet corner at regular intervals,
fiddle toys ...). So I called the resource room this morning and was as
polite as I could muster - all I was told was 'I will look into that". As I pick
my ds up from school the aide tells me that there was an emergency
meeting and she was told to stay on another two weeks to help
implement the IEP. The schooldistrict is close to bankrupsy but they must
have figured that an aide is cheaper than a lawsuit.
I'm thrilled (I like the aide) but I think it is a little strange that I have
never gotten a letter or a written response to any of my many e-mails yet.
Obviously there is some stuff happening behind the scenes but they
seem to be extremly careful not to have any papertrail.
Is that your experience or do you ever get anything in writing?
I've never really been in a conflict situation, but I do experience that my son's school doesn't take the time to write anything unless it's routine, like the IEP, biannual progress report, and minutes from meetings. Even then, I don't necessarily receive a copy.
I hope things improve at your son's school.
I have a decent relationship with the school. The things I get in writing are the IEP, progress reports, and daily sheets about my youngest son's day. I do e-mail the school, but so far it's been about trivial, "just thought you should know" stuff. The teacher does get back to me.
I mostly get hand written notes. They are sometimes too vague for my taste, but I try to avoid phone calls. In case there is a problem, you should always get it in writting. With my SD they would write such positive notes, but if they had a concern or problem they would call- a warning sign if you ask me. I have my son in a private school now.I get responses by email from them all the time. But they are careful about what they commit to writing. District emails can be supoenaed (sp?) I sometimes ask that they respond in writing, especially when I'm sending a thank you after an IEP meeting and want to know if what I thought happened at the meeting is what THEY think happened at a meeting. My guess is that either things are SO bad in your District that no one has the time to email back, or things are SO bad in your District that they fear Hearings left and right and want to commit as little to writing as possible. Either way, I'd be wary of what's going on, in general. Good for you that you've been keeping your eye on things. You can always send copies of your child's IEP to teachers and staff yourself.